Another Stock Market Crash Inevitable

Every
production phase or society or other human invention goes through a so-called
transformation process. Transitions are social transformation processes that
cover at least one generation. In this article I will use one such transition
to demonstrate the position of our present civilization and and that a new
stock market crash is inevitable.

When
we consider the characteristics of the phases of a social transformation we may
find ourselves at the end of what might be called the third industrial
revolution. Transitions are social transformation processes that cover at least
one generation (= 25 years). A transition has the following characteristics:

-it
involves a structural change of civilization or a complex subsystem of our
civilization

-it
shows technological, economical, ecological, socio cultural and institutional
changes at different levels that influence and enhance each other

-it
is the result of slow changes (changes in supplies) and fast dynamics (flows)

A
transition process is not fixed from the start because during the transition
processes will adapt to the new situation. A transition is not dogmatic.

Four transition phases

When we consider the characteristics of the phases of
a social transformation we may find ourselves at the end of what might be
called the third industrial revolution.

The S
curve of a transition

Figure: Four phases in a transition best visualized by means of an S – curve:

Pre-development, Take off, Acceleration, Stabilization.

In
general, transitions can be seen to go through the S curve and we can
distinguish four phases (see fig. 1):

1.a
pre-development phase of a dynamic balance in which the status does not visibly
change

2.a
take-off phase in which the process of change starts because of changes in the
system

3.an
acceleration phase in which visible structural changes take place through an
accumulation of socio cultural, economical, ecological and institutional
changes influencing each other; in this phase we see collective learning processes,
diffusion and processes of embedding

4.a
stabilization phase in which the speed of sociological change slows down and a
new dynamic balance is achieved through learning

A
product life cycle also goes through an S curve. In that case there is a fifth phase:

5.the
degeneration phase in which cost rises because of over capacity and the
producer will finally withdraw from the market.

When
we look back into the past we see three transitions, also called industrial
revolutions, taking place with far-reaching effect:

1. The first industrial revolution(1780 until circa 1850); the steam engine

2. The second industrial revolution (1870 until circa 1930);
electricity, oil and the
car

3. The third industrial revolution (1950 until ....); computer
and microprocessor

The emergence of astock market boom

Inthedevelopmentandtake-off phases oftheindustrial
revolutionmany new companies emerged. All thesecompanies went throughmore or less the samecycle simulataneously.
Duringthe secondindustrial revolutionthese newcompanies emerged in the steel, oil, automotiveand electrical industries, and duringthe
thirdindustrial revolutionthe
new companies emerged inthe hardware,
software, consulting and communicationsindustries. Duringthe acceleration phase ofanewindustrial revolution many of these
businessestend to be inthe acceleration phase oftheir life cycle,
more or less in parallel.

There is an enormous increase in expected
value of the shares of companies in the acceleration phase of their existence.
This is the reason why shares become very expensive in the acceleration phase
of a revolution.

There was also an enormous increase in price-earnings ratio of shares between 1920 – 1930, the acceleration
phase of the second revolution, and between 1990 – 2000, the acceleration phase
of the third revolution.

Figure: Two industrial revolutions: Shiller PE Ratio
(price / income)

Splittingsharesfuelsprice-earningsratio

The increase
intheprice-earnings
ratiois amplified becausemany
companiesdecide to splittheir
shares duringthe acceleration phase oftheir existence.Astock
splitisrequiredifthemarket valueof a sharehas grown too large,
renderingthemarketabilityinsufficient. A split increases the valueof the shares because there
are more potentialinvestors when they
are cheaper.Between1920 - 1930and1990–2000 there have beenhuge amount
of stock splits that impacted theprice-earnings ratiopositively.

Date

Company

Split

December
31, 1927

American Can

6
for 1

December
31, 1927

General Electric

4
for 1

December
31, 1927

Sears, Roebuck & Company

4
for 1

December
31, 1927

American Car & Foundry

2
for 1

December
31, 1927

American Tobacco

2
for 1

November
5, 1928

Atlantic
Refining

4
for 1

December
13, 1928

General
Motors

2
1/2 for 1

December
13, 1928

International
Harvester

4
for 1

January
8, 1929

American Smelting

3 for 1

January
8, 1929

Radio Corporation of America

5 for 1

May
1, 1929

Wright-Aeronautical

2
for 1

May
20, 1929

Union
Carbide split

3
for 1

June
25, 1929

Woolworth
split

2
1/2 for 1

Table 1: Share Splitsbeforethe stock marketcrash of 1929

Date

Company

Split

January 22,1990

DuPont

3
for 1

May 14,1990

Coca-Cola Company

2 for 1

May 22, 1990

Westinghouse Electric stock

2 for 1

June 1, 1990

Woolworth Corporation

2 for 1

June 11, 1990

Boeing Company

3 for 2

May 12, 1992

Coca-Cola Company

2 for 1

May18, 1992

Walt Disney Co

4 for 1

May 26, 1992

Merck & Company

3 for 1

June 15, 1992

Proctor & Gamble

2 for 1

May 5, 1993

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

2
for 1

March 15, 1994

AlliedSignal Incorporated

2 for 1

April 11, 1994

Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing

2
for 1

May 16, 1994

General Electric Company

2 for 1

June 13, 1994

Chevron Corporation

2 for 1

June 27, 1994

McDonald’s Corporation

2 for 1

September 6, 1994

Caterpillar Incorporated

2
for 1

February 27, 1995

Aluminum Company of America

2 for 1

September 18, 1995

International Paper Company

2 for 1

May 13, 1996

Coca-Cola Company

2 for 1

December 11, 1996

United Technologies Corporation

2
for 1

April
11, 1997

Exxon Corporation

2
for 1

April
14, 1997

Philip Morris Companies

3
for 1

May
12, 1997

General Electric Company

2
for 1

May
28, 1997

International Business Machine

2
for 1

June
9, 1997

Boeing Company

2 for 1

June
13, 1997

DuPont Company

2 for 1

July
14, 1997

Caterpillar Incorporated

2 for 1

September
16, 1997

AlliedSignal

2 for 1

September
22, 1997

Proctor & Gamble

2 for 1

November
20, 1997

Travelers Group Incorporated

3
for 2

July
10, 1998

Walt Disney Company

3
for 1

February 17, 1999

Merck & Company

2 for 1

February 26, 1999

Alcoa Incorporated

2 for 1

March
8, 1999

McDonald’s Corporation

2 for 1

April
16, 1999

AT&T Corporate

2
for 1

April
20, 1999

Wal-Mart Incorporated

2
for 1

May 18, 1999

United Technology Corporation

2 for 1

May 27, 1999

International Business Machine

2 for 1

June
1, 1999

Citigroup Incorporated

3 for 2

December
31, 1999

Home Depot

3
for 2

Table 2: Share Splitsduring theperiod1990-2000

ShareSplits keep letting the Dow
Jones Indexexplode

The Dow JonesIndex
wasfirst publishedon May 26,1896.The index was calculatedby dividingthe sum of all theshares of 12 companies by 12:

On December 31,1927,
two years beforethe stock market crashin October 1929, for the first timea number
of companiessplittheir shares.With eachchange in the compositionof the Dow Jonesand with eachshare split, the formula to calculate theDow Jonesis adjusted.This happens because theindex, the outcome of thetwo formulasof the twobaskets,must
stay the sameat the moment ofchange,
because there can not be a gap in the graph. At first a weighted average
was calculated for the shares that were splitonDecember 31, 1927.

Calculating the index had to be simplified at this point because all the
calculations were still done by hand. The weighted average for the split shares
is removed and the Dow Divisor is introduced. The index is now calculated by
dividing the sum of the share values by the Dow Divisor. Because the index for October
1st, 1928, cannot suddenly change, the Dow Divisor is initially set
to 16.67. After all, the index graph for the two time periods (before and after
the Dow Divisor was introduced) should still look like a single continuous
line. The calculation is now as follows:

Dow30_oct_1_1928 =
(S1 + S2+ ..........+S30) / 16.67

In the fall of 1928 and the spring of 1929 (see Table 1) 8 more stock
splits occur, causing the Dow Divisor to drop to 10.77.

Dow30_jun_25_1929 = (S1 + S2+ ..........+S30) / 10.77

From October 1st, 1928 onward an increase in value of the 30
shares means the index value almost doubles. From June 25th, 1929 onward it
almost triples compared to a similar increase before stock splitting was
introduced. Using the old formula the sum of the 30 shares would simply be
divided by 30.

Figure:Dow Jones Indexbefore
and afterBlack Tuesday

Theextreme rise inthe Dow Jones intheperiod1920 -
1929andespecially between1927 - 1929, was primarily causedbecausethe expected value oftheshares of companiesthat areinthe
acceleration phase oftheirexistence,
was increasing enormously.Thevalue of the sharesis strengthened further bystock splitsandasicing on the cakethisvalue of the shares was enlargedagainin the DowJonesIndex,becausebehind the scenestheformulaof the DowJones was adjusted due tostock splits.

Duringthe acceleration phase ofthe third
industrial revolution, 1990 - 2000, history has repeateditself. In
this periodthere have again beenmanystock splits, particularly in the years 1997and 1999.

The formulathat was used onDecember 31, 1999wastocalculatethe Dow Jones:

Dow30_dec_31_1999 = (S1 + S2+ ..........+S30)
/ 0.20145268

OnDecember 31, 1999on an increaseof the 30 stocksagainnearlythree times as manyindex points, the same value
increaseonJanuary 1, 1990.

Stock
market indices are mirages

What
does a stock exchange index like DJIA, S&P 500 or AEX mean?

The
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Index is the oldest stock index in the
United States. This was a straight average of the rates of twelve shares. A
select group of journalists from The Wall Street Journal decide which companies
are part of the most influential index in the world market. Unlike most other
indices the Dow is a price-weighted index. This means that stocks with high
absolute share price have a significant impact on the movement of the index.

The
S & P Index is a market capitalization weighted index. The 500 largest U.S.
companies as measured by their market capitalization are included in this
index, which is compiled by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's.

The Amsterdam Exchange index (AEX) is the main Dutch stock market index.
The index displays the image of the price development of the 25 most traded
shares on the Amsterdam stock exchange. From a weighted average of the prices of
these shares, the position of the AEX is calculated.

In
many graphs the y-axis is a fixed unit, such as kg, meter, liter or euro. In
the graphs showing the stock exchange values, this also seems to be the case
because the unit shows a number of points. However, this is far from true! An
index point is not a fixed unit in time and does not have any historical
significance.

An
index is calculated on the basis of a set of shares. Every index has its own
formula and the formula gives the number of points of the index. Unfortunately
many people attach a lot of value to these graphs which are, however, very
deceptive.

·An
index is calculated on the basis of a set of shares. Every index has its own
formula and the formula results in the number of points of the index. However,
this set of shares changes regularly. For a new period the value is based on a
different set of shares. It is very strange that these different sets of shares
are represented as the same unit.
After a period of 25 years the value of the original set of apples is compared
to the value of a set of pears. At the moment only 6 of the original 30
companies that made up the set of shares of the Dow Jones at the start of the
acceleration of the last revolution (in 1979) are still present.

·Even
more disturbing is the fact that with every change in the set of shares used to
calculate the number of points, the formula also changes. This is done because
the index which is the result of two different sets of shares at the moment the
set is changed, must be the same for both sets at that point in time. The index
graphs must be continuous lines. For example, the Dow Jones is calculated by
adding the shares and dividing the result by a number. Because of changes in
the set of shares and the splitting of shares the divider changes continuously.
At the moment the divider is 0.15 but in 1985 this number was higher than 1. An
index point in two periods of time is therefore calculated in different ways:
Dow1985 = (S1 + S2 + ........+S30) / 1

Dow2009 = (S1 + S2 + ........ + S30) / 0,15

In the nineties of the last century many
shares were split. To make sure the result of the calculation remained the same
both the number of shares and the divider changed (which I think is wrong). An
increase in share value of 1 dollar of the set of shares in 2015 results is 6.6
times more points than in 1985. The fact that in the 1990’s many shares were
split is probably the cause of the exponential growth of the Dow Jones index. At
the moment the Dow is at 16000 points. If we used the 1985 formula it would be
at 2400 points.

·The
most remarkable characteristic is of course the constantly changing set of
shares. Generally speaking, the companies that are removed from the set are in
a stabilization or degeneration phase. Companies in a take-off phase or
acceleration phase are added to the set. This greatly increases the chance that
the index will rise rather than go down. This is obvious, especially when this
is done during the acceleration phase of a transition.
From 1980 onwards 7 ICT companies (3M, AT&T, Cisco, HP, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft) , the engines of the latest revolution, were added to the Dow Jones
and 5 financial institutions, which always play an important role in every
transition.
This is actually a kind of pyramid scheme. All goes well as long as companies
are added that are in their take-off phase or acceleration phase. At the end of
a transition, however, there will be fewer companies in those phases. The last 18 years were 21 companies replaced in the
Dow Jones, a percentage of 70%.

Overview
modifications Dow Jones from 1997:

21 winners in -- 21
losers out, a figure of 70%

March 19, 2015: Apple replaced
AT & T. In order to make Apple suitable for the Dow Jones, there was a
share split of Apple seven for one on June 9, 2014

September 23, 2013: Hewlett-Packard Co.,
Bank of America Inc. and Alcoa Inc. replaced Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Nike
Inc. and Visa Inc.Alcoa has dropped
from $40 in 2007 to $8.08. Hewlett- Packard Co. has dropped from $50 in 2010 to
$22.36. Bank of America has dropped from $50 in 2007 to $14.48.But Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Nike Inc. and Visa Inc.
have risen 25%, 27% and 18% respectively in 2013.

September 20, 2012: UnitedHealth Group
Inc. (UNH) replaces Kraft Foods Inc.Kraft Foods Inc. was
split into two companies and was therefore deemed less representative so no
longer suitable for the Dow. The share value of UnitedHealth Group Inc. had
risen for two years before inclusion in the Dow by 53%.

June 8, 2009: Cisco and Travelers
replaced Citigroup and General Motors. Citigroup and
General Motors have received billions of dollars of U.S. government money to
survive and were not representative of the Dow.

September 22, 2008: Kraft Foods Inc.
replaced American International Group. American International Group was replaced
after the decision of the government to take a 79.9% stake in the insurance
giant. AIG was narrowly saved from destruction by an emergency loan from the
Fed.

February 19, 2008: Bank of America
Corp. and Chevron Corp. replaced Altria Group Inc. and Honeywell International.Altria was split into two companies and was deemed no
longer suitable for the Dow. Honeywell was
removed from the Dow because the role of industrial companies in the U.S. stock
market in the recent years had declined and Honeywell had the smallest sales and
profits among the participants in the Dow.

April
8, 2004:
Verizon Communications Inc., American International Group Inc. and Pfizer Inc.
replace AT & T Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and International Paper.AIG shares had increased over 387% in the previous decade
and Pfizer had an increase of more than 675& behind it. Shares of AT &
T and Kodak, on the other hand, had decreases of more than 40% in the past
decade and were therefore removed from the Dow.

Figure: Changes in the Dow Jones over the last two
industrial revolutions

Figure: Exchange
rates of Dow Jones during the latest two industrial revolutions. During the
last few years the rate increases have accelerated enormously.

Will the share
indexes go down any further?

Calculating
share indexes as described above and showing indexes in historical graphs is a
useful way to show which phase the industrial revolution is in.

The
third industrial revolution is clearly in the saturation and degeneration
phase. This phase can be recognized by the saturation of the market and the
increasing competition. Only the strongest companies can withstand the
competition or take over their competitors (like for example the take-overs by
Oracle and Microsoft in the past few years). The information technology world
has not seen any significant technical changes recently, despite what the
American marketing machine wants us to believe.

During
the pre development phase and the take-off phase of a transition many new
companies spring into existence. This is a diverging process. Especially
financial institutions play an important role here as these phases require a
lot of money. The graphs showing the wages paid in the financial sector
therefore shows the same S curve as both revolutions.

Figure: Historical
excess wage in the financial sector

Investors
get euphoric when hearing about mergers and take overs. Actually, these mergers
and take overs are indications of the converging processes at the end of a
transition. When looked at objectively each merger or take over is a loss of
economic activity. This becomes painfully clear when we have a look at the
unemployment rates of some countries.

New
industrial revolutions come about because of new ideas, inventions and
discoveries, so new knowledge and insight. Here too we have reached a point of
saturation. There will be fewer companies in the take off or acceleration phase
to replace the companies in the index shares sets that have reached the
stabilization or degeneration phase.

In a (threatening) recession, the central bank tries
to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates. Loans are thus cheaper,
allowing citizens and businesses to spend more. In the event of sharply rising
unemployment and falling prices, however, this does significantly less. This is
also the case as the official interest rates are lower, or even fall to essentially
zero. Regardless of the interest rate (big) loans are not concluded and
expensive purchases will be delayed. Further rate cuts or even an interest rate
of zero may not lead to an increase in economic activity and falling demand
leads to further price declines (deflation). The central bank may decide in
that case to increase the money supply (quantitative easing). A larger money
supply actually leads to price increases and disruption of the deflationary
spiral. In the past the printing presses would be turned on but nowadays the
central bank buys government bonds, mortgage bonds and other securities and
finances these transactions by increasing the personal balance. There are no extra
physical bank notes printed. The mechanism works by means of central banks
buying bonds in the market or directly from banks. Banks are credited for the
purchase amount in the accounts held with the central bank. In this way, banks
obtain liquidity. In response to this liquidity banks can then provide new
loans.

Figure: The quantitative easing policy of the Fed (US central bank) and its
effect on the S & P 500

Due to the combination of interest rate policy and quantitative
easing by central banks a lot of money has flowed the stock markets since 2008 and
has in fact created a new, fictional bull market. This is evident in the
price-earnings ratio chart (Shiller PE Ratio), which has risen again since
2008. But central banks now have no more ammunition to break the deflationary
spiral. At the end of the 2nd
industrial revolution in 1932 the PE Ratio dropped to 5. Currently, this ratio,
partly due to the behavior of central banks, is 23. The share prices can still go down by a factor 4

Humanity
is being confronted with the same problems as those at the end of the second
industrial revolution such as decreasing stock exchange rates, highly
increasing unemployment, towering debts of companies and governments and bad
financial positions of banks.

Figure:
Two industrial
revolutions and the debt of
America

Transitions are initiated by inventions and discoveries, new
knowledge of mankind. New knowledge influences the other four components in a
society. At the moment there are few new inventions or discoveries. So the
chance of a new industrial revolution is not very high. History has shown that
five pillars are indispensable for a stable society.

Figure: The five
pillars for a stable society: Food, Security, Health,
Prosperity,

Knowledge.

At
the end of every transition the pillar Prosperity is threatened. We have seen
this effect after every industrial revolution.

The
pillar Prosperity of a society is about to fall again. History has shown that
the fall of the pillar Prosperity always results in a revolution. Because of
the high level of unemployment after the second industrial revolution many
societies initiated a new transition, the creation of a war economy. This type
of economy flourished especially in the period 1940 – 1945.

Now, societies will have to make a choice for a new transition
to be started.